SFoodie's countdown of the 92 best things to eat and drink in San Francisco, 2011 edition.
The one issue all cocktail historians can agree on is this: Determining the origin of a drink is imprecise work. Like most things that happen in a bar, the past is a blur of conflicting stories, exaggeration, and liquor. But Pisco Punch is one indisputably San Francisco cocktail, created in the late 19th century by Duncan Nicol at a bar called the Bank Exchange, where the city's iconic Transamerica Pyramid now stands.
That's what's so fitting (not to mention delicious) about enjoying this San Francisco original at Comstock Saloon. Housed in a circa-1907 building, Comstock evokes the spirit of Duncan Nicol with a list of standards that feel right at home. Supreme among them is Pisco Punch, which combines Encanto Pisco (a brand based in San Francisco), lemon and lime juices, Small Hand Foods' pineapple gum syrup, and a secret tincture of herbs owners Jonny Raglin and Jeff Hollinger describe only as "Nicol juice."
Arriving in the glass capped with a delicious and ephemeral foglike foam, it's a true San Franciscan, born and raised.
Comstock Saloon: 155 Columbus (at Pacific), 617-0071.
San Valentín at La Victoria
When: Mon., Feb 14; seatings start at 5 p.m.
Where: La Victoria Mexican Bakery and Cafe, 2937 24th St. (at Alabama), 642-7120
Cost: $69 per couple for four-course menu; $109 per couple for seven-course menu; $85 per couple for five-course vegetarian menu
Why it's likely to be special: Chef Roger Feely has a baroque eclecticism that should be just about right for the kind of Valentine who'd be all over a meal with more soul than gloss.
Menu highlights: Four-course menu: Fried green garbanzos; venison kibbeh; slow-cooked white beans and pork. Seven-course menu: Roasted chestnut soup with artichoke-garlic strudel; wild mushroom panade; farmers' market carrot salad with Dungeness crab, avocado, and botarga
Reserve at Eventbrite
1,000 Meals on One Plate
Where: Station 40, 3030 16th St. (at Mission), Suite B
When: Sat., Feb. 5, 6:30 p.m.
Cost: $10-$30, sliding scale
The rundown: Not content to merely feed the hungry and rage against the military-industrial complex, Food Not Bombs has its sights set on trash. After feeling a bit sheepish about all the paper and plastic they've been loading into landfills, the San Francisco chapter of FNB is upgrading to "sustainable plateware" (a fancy way of describing the dishes and utensils in your kitchen). To help defray costs, they're holding an infinitely affordable vegan feast on Saturday night. They promise drinks for high rollers who donate more than $10, paired with samosas, spring rolls with spicy peanut sauce, arugula Asian pear salad, pie, chai, and more. Hopefully you won't be stuck with the dishes.
RSVP to sffoodnotbombsthurs@gmail.com
Two weeks ago, Shannon Amitin, one of the owners of Farm:Table, was at a La Marzocco demonstration in Berkeley talking to other people about how great the Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill had become for coffee geeks.
"Since we opened a year and a half ago, four other small coffee shops offering different roasters' beans have opened," he says. "This neighborhood should become more of a destination for what I call 'coffee tourists' ― people seeking out different varieties of coffee." Amitin decided to organize a neighborhood coffee crawl, and with the speed of a caffeine peddler, signed up three nearby cafes and the roasters whose beans they showcase.
This Saturday afternoon, the four cafes will be hosting demonstrations. For example, Farm:Table (which serves Verve) will be holding coffee cuppings on the hour, as well as pulling single-origin espresso shots and demonstrating how to use the Chemex. At Hooker's Sweet Treats, Sightglass will be demonstrating the process of creating coffee blends, while Contraband Coffee Bar will be hosting "coffee labs." If Amitin can get another roaster involved, nearby Bamboo Bike Studio will host a pop-up demonstration as well.
Underground Foraged Prix Fixe
When: Mon., Feb 14; seatings at 6 and 9 p.m.
Where: Somewhere in S.F.; exact location revealed the day of the event
Cost: $50 for five courses ($80 with wine or beer pairings); corkage is $15. Organizer Iso Rabins says 10 percent of the profits will go to charity
Why it's likely to be special: On the 2-year anniversary of Rabins' Wild Kitchen dinners, he's dropped the price (the monthly prix fixe is usually $100) and enlisted Stag Dining Group's Jordan Grosser to help with the cooking
Menu highlights: Marin Miyagi oysters with wild herring roe Rabins foraged from the bay recently; soupe de poisson with wild nori aioli; gnocchi with ragu made of wild boar sourced from Paso Robles; wild huckleberry macaroons with foraged fruit sorbet
Reservations via Eventbrite
Just when you thought it couldn't, the JapaCurry truck saga just got stranger.
Wednesday's the day JapaCurry has a permit to park on Mission at New Montgomery. Owner Jay Hamada told SFoodie that, to ensure that Harvest and Rowe's Alison Rowe (or some other party) wouldn't block one of the spaces he needs to maneuver his truck to the curb, he hired two people to sit in their cars and hold the spaces. "Just in case ― I had a bad feeling," Hamada said.Trouble is, there are four metered spaces on that stretch of Mission, including one for commercial loading. Hamada said that a blue pickup truck was parked in the loading zone, which would have prevented JapaCurry from pulling up to the curb, except that the third space ― the one not occupied by his paid curb-sitters ― happened to open up at that moment. A woman Hamada had never seen before (i.e., not Alison Rowe) came to feed the meter in yellow zone where the blue pickup was parked. Hamada said he asked her why she was feeding the meter, and if somebody had asked her to feed it. She told him that some restaurant owner she didn't know had asked her to do it ― something about a farmers' market and a catering company ― and then scurried off.
After lunch Hamada went to Harvest and Rowe to try to find Alison Rowe to talk about what's been happening. "I was trying to find a solution," Hamada said. Well, well, well: Who should be in the restaurant but the woman who'd been feeding the meter on Mission; Hamada said she seemed surprised to see him. She gave her name as "Anna," described herself as a friend of Alison Rowe's, but said that Rowe was busy talking to someone else (a lawyer, she said) and couldn't speak with Hamada. He didn't stick around.
Second Annual Chocolate and Beer Festival
Where: Craneway Pavilion, 1414 Harbour Way, Richmond, 510-735-1133
When: Sat., Feb. 19, 2-6 p.m.
Cost: $28 (includes parking, entry, four chocolate tickets, and two beer tickets)
The rundown: This sweet spot in SF Beer Week pairs suds (including the debut of Rosie the Riveter Ale and selections from Drake's Brewing, 21st Amendment, Marin Brewing Company, and more) with cacao and confections (provided by Tcho, Coco Delice, Galaxy Desserts, and Bittersweet Cafe), with proceeds to benefit Alameda's Children's Learning Center.
Reserve online via Craneway's site
Check out other upcoming events on SFoodie.
St. Valentine's Day Prix Fixe
When: Mon., Feb. 14
Where: Commonwealth, 2224 Mission (at 18th St.), 355-1500
Cost: $100 for six courses ($145 with paired wines); vegetarian tasting menu on request, and $10 from each menu benefits the Women's Building
Why it's likely to be special: "[Chef Jason] Fox ... produces complicated pleasures unlike anything else in town, and for a half to a third of the price of anything similar. It's experimental dining for Mission budgets." ― Jonathan Kauffman
Menu highlights: Miyagi oysters with green apple gel, tapioca, and seaweed granité; caviar with farm egg ravioli and sea urchin broth; scallops with hedgehog mushrooms, pumpkin, and vadouvan; caramelized white chocolate parfait with dried cherries and tarragon
Reservations at OpenTable
Charlie Parker, who took over the kitchen at Daniel Patterson's Plum on Dec. 15, is a veteran of Manresa and Ubuntu who has also done a stage at Noma in Copenhagen. Before moving up to Oakland, he was the chef at Bonny Doon Vineyard's Cellar Door Café from April 2009 to October 2010. As I was finishing up my review of Plum, I called Parker for an interview. Apologies in advance for all the asides I inserted to define less-common terms.
SFoodie: So in the five or six weeks since you have arrived, how have you changed the menu? Going forward, what kinds of directions are you planning on taking the restaurant?
Parker: You know, the first couple of weeks, I was getting to know the place ― learning more about Daniel's cooking style and trying to use his dishes but change them to more my style. But I think we approach food in a very similar way, Daniel and I, using local, sustainable products, very seasonal. We make very fresh, light, palatable dishes and use a lot of vegetables. That's what I really like about his cooking, and what I respect about him as a chef. We're pretty much committed to using things that only come from Northern California.
I had a funny little off-the-record exchange with Daniel Patterson a few weeks ago, in which I asked him if he wanted to update his 2005 essay on how straightjacket California cuisine had become. His response was, essentially, that he'd said all he'd cared to back then. If I wanted to know what he thought of California cuisine, I should eat his food.
So I did.
